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Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

Really? I’m supposed to look like that?!?

05 Feb

I’ve recently decided to shift my wardrobe range to something more… not… so… overly casual.  I’d love to do some work at conventions and such, and I’ve done work-related events in the past, but every time I have, I’ve had to go and buy clothes and accessories for the occasion.  I just don’t keep “non-essential” things on hand.

As anyone in the working world can tell you, most places fall somewhere between “business casual” and “business formal”.  Me, I think I’m going to develop a whole new range and call it “business FABULOUS!”

So, I went out to start assembly my new fashion sense, and while I was at Target (because, hey, I’m still on a budget), I ran across these bras that promised “two extra cup sizes”.  You know how curiosity killed the cat?  Well, it also kills breast tissue AND self-esteem!

Of course I tried one on – and then I threw up a little in my mouth.  I was … endowed, shall we say, back in high school, which looked only slightly less ridiculous than it would on my right now because I still had my baby “fat”.  (More descriptively, I have never even been “festively plump”, but back then, I was not quite so slender.  Having babies does weird things to a body sometimes.)

Are women supposed to look like that?  I tried to imagine myself in a corporate or sales environment, wearing that bra under a snappy blouse, and all I could see was a bunch of disgusted women and a slew of drooling men.  What I’d have to say would have no bearing on their demeanor… and maybe that’s the point.

Oh gods… did I just solve the whole plastic surgery phenomena problem?  Are women made to feel that they need unnatural augmentation so that they don’t have to show off their intelligence (or lack thereof)?  Do women who buckle to pressure to get cosmetic surgery do so because they are insecure about their intelligence?

Seriously, though, the great conflict that all women in professional positions face is that balance between being “attractive” enough for people to want to talk to but not so “attractive” as to distract from whatever it is they need to talk about.  Yes, some people will buy anything from a nice rack, but the other 80% of people make up the majority of the market.  And if we’re talking about something that requires a background in academia or intensive education, it’s almost worse because any attractiveness silently implies that the woman in question got her degree or certification on looks instead of hard work (despite women generally having to work harder in advanced degrees because of that expectation).

The fear that this addresses is a big old case of “not good enough”:  If there’s an insecurity within a woman that says that she’s not smart enough or clever enough, the fall-back is to over-do the physical “pretty” – but women who seem to fall into the leave-a-button-undone category also seem to get the most chances of promotion and monetary benefit.

So, this idea of “business fabulous” is based on the idea that you can have an attractive wardrobe that doesn’t show off all-the-gods-gave-you, something that suggests a cleverness and personality couched in a compelling package.  For the specifics, I’m thinking of going with pencil skirts instead of A-lines, fitted longer-line jackets instead of standard suit lapels, narrow scarves (knitted lace or fine fabric) instead of pinned squares, and a range of colors underneath for mandarin-collar button-downs and long-sleeved tee-shirts.  Pants can be gently flared, boot-cut, and mid-waist instead of low- or high-waist.  Shoes should probably stay in the chunky heel range for both pumps and boots – but stilettos and two-inch granny pumps are right out.  And don’t even think about flats!

Make-up can totally be kept in the standard neutral range, but throw a little color into the eye shadow.  Let the hair be fantastic and daring!  Jewelry doesn’t have to match and should be neither blue-light special nor mother-earth-goddess chunky.

As I collect more pieces for this Business Fabulous look, I’ll post more pictures (and links) here.  Yes, there is a narrow range of styles that you can get away with in business, but that’s not reason to be boxed in.  The better you feel about how you look, the more you feel that your look reflects your real self, the more comfortable you’re going to be.

I’m just sayin’.

 
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Posted in Business

 

A more personal version of the LA trip for Alice: Madness Returns

13 Jun

Seriously, if I'd had the money, this lovely piece would have gone home with me. I just adore it.

It’s not every day that you get to say that something moved you so completely as to significantly change your life.

When I first meet people in any context and they ask what I do, there’s a lot of confusion about the term “Community Manager”.  Some people think I work in real estate, some people think I do communes in the forest (don’t ask, it’s a long story), and when I put it in the context of being in video games, there’s almost more confusion.  What could a video game need a community for?

One of the things I’ve realized as I’ve done this job over the past six years (counting my volunteer time) is that the question of community in terms of video games or any other business model is not well understood by corporate types, but it translates into something profound for those of us who approach it from a very human perspective.

When I first got the slightly sadistic idea to have the community members submit essays in order to get a spot on the guest list, I kinda figured we’d have some geeking out and excited squeeing, but I don’t think I really grasped that it would actually mean something to someone besides me.

That’s not to say that I didn’t think it would be important to someone else, but seeing other people’s response was just mind-blowing.

The reaction to our art – both the stuff that was made by our guys in-house and by the artists who were inspired by the limited screenshots – was massive.  People who were previously only fans of the Lewis Carroll novels became fans of the game by seeing it, hearing about it and playing it.  But the best part, hands down, was watching dreams come true.

This is what being a community manager is really all about.  This is my emotional cookie.

As our community members arrived at the art show at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, I introduced them to Ken and American and RJ, and I got the biggest rush out of watching their faces as they actually got to talk to their heroes.  For these folks, it’s not just about a great video game.  It’s about a whole story that has meant so much to their lives on a personal non-gaming level, and seeing them connect on an even deeper level with the respect and admiration they already felt was incredible.

I watched a kid’s future go from some kind of amorphous question mark into a solid path with real meaning.  I watched another kid realize that not only was he not alone but that he had more family and support than he might’ve previously imagined.  I watched another kid emerge from a shell and get to realize that these heroes were human beings – and when you realize that your heroes are humans, you yourself are given permission to be a hero for someone else some day.

The American McGee community (or Spicy Horse community, if you prefer) is not the first online forum that I’ve managed.  Previous experiences were more personal, though, with more of a grass-roots origin, so meeting in person back then was a lot more informal, easier to manage.  Heck, some of you might even remember the Magestock “festivals” that we held out at our place in Wyoming – all populated by people we met online through the forums.  Getting to see this community come together in real life in just this one limited little event made me realize again that while growing an online community has its challenges and its perks, the real magic happens when we become human to each other again.

That is the ultimate goal, I think, for community managers – to build the trust and respect and loyalty necessary to make that transition from the online world into the material one.  For businesses, that might translate into sales and the bottom line, and for activist groups it translates into signatures on a petition.  Regardless, though, the final test of a community manager – both in terms of building the quality of a community and in being a representative of both community and business – is to face the people from the community in the material world and be able to say, “Hey, I know you, and I care about you as a person.”

I refuse to say “in real life” anymore because the online world is real – but it’s not material.  We can meet on a bulletin board or Facebook group or chat, and we get to know each other some.  Then we talk on the phone and know each other a little more.  When we make that final step to being able to touch each other’s sleeves and hug and smile face-to-face…

That is when the magic happens.

And you know what a fan of magic I am.

(More later, when I’ll tell you about my awesomely serendipitous random encounters, and about the ghost on the 11th floor.)

 
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Posted in Business, Personal Life

 

Social networking is not marketing

30 May

Compliments of the Homes Lady with Chicago Real Estate. Hey, it worked for what I'm trying to say here.More specifically, social networking can be for marketing, but that’s not what it’s for.

This is a topic that comes up a lot.  As I sit here (with a towel and a pillow on my head, compliments of our little Dream) contemplating my Next Great Adventure(s), I know that whatever I do will gain its success through social media.  If I do a web comic or a weekly video blog stories or sell jewelry or write stories or whatever, the only way that people are going to know about it is if I tell them – leaving your novel’s marketing up to the publishing company is a fast-track to low (or zero) sales.

As they say:

“He who has a thing to sell
and goes and whispers in a well
will not do so well as he
who goes and shouts it from a tree.”

And yet, if my Facebook and Twitter accounts are nothing more than a long line of “YO BUY MY STUFF YO!” posts, no one’s going to want to read anything, let alone pay money.

If you’re looking in the newspaper or on certain types of websites for something to buy, you’re buying from a company.  That company has let you know where they are by putting out advertisements, and for every 1,000 people who see that ad, 10 of them will go, “Hey, I really need that widget, and they look like they have a good price for it!”  It’s a passive format, in a way, with a strange ROI that is often inversely proportionate to cost.

But, when you’re in a social networking environment, people aren’t looking for businesses – they’re talking to people.  That’s what makes it social.  Trying to use the traditional advertising marketing methods in a social networking environment is like going to a cocktail party and pitching your widgets to complete strangers.  Rather, the proper way to get to someone in that cocktail party would be to strike up a conversation, see what you’ve got in common as humans and maybe see if it might lead to conversation about work and what you do and what you sell.  Then, you give them a card (traditional marketing/advertising) and let them decide if they want to talk to you later.

I’m not going to get into the specifics of Facebook and how they advertise according to your Likes and such.  As sneaky as it is, their method works, even on someone as jaded as me.  If you’re just buying advertising on a social networking site, then that’s fine – that may work for you, but if you really want to use social networking, you have to act like a human.

This brings us to my favorite point about SocNet in general, and that’s community management.  As marketing becomes more “humane”, it requires being more “human”, and that means employing people who speak in human languages.  Many companies believe either that it requires a marketing degree to do this or that “just anyone can do it“.  Community management is not well-understood because, as a vocation and occupation, it’s developed as a reaction within an economic system that is changing quickly.

I also will not go into why I think the economic system is changing, as that is the topic of a different article.

The long and short of it, though, is that if anyone should be reading this specific post on this specific blog, it should be the people who employ community managers.  I have friends in the business who have four or five or six different intellectual properties that they’re supposed to manage at the community level – and I’m stunned because taking care of my one is more than a full-time job sometimes.  Marketing units who assign community managers these monumental piles of work still think that the energy that goes into community management is the same as what goes into marketing.  Boy, howdy, is this backwards and wrong-headed!  Those in marketing who do not understand community management want the benefits of “community”, but they’re not willing to pay for what they get.

What are the benefits of a strong brand-specific community?  Loyalty is at the top of the list.  A loyal community member will support an IP or brand beyond the main offering.  In video games, this translates into IP-related book sales, merchandise sales and fan-sponsored parties to spread the Good Word about their favorite titles, among other things.  A loyal community member will also forgive mistakes far more readily and will defend the source company against all comers.  Finally, a loyal community member is an actual customer who spends money, encourages others to spend money and in the end is happy and satisfied not just with the product that they themselves have purchased but with the overall success of the product and source company.

It’s kinda like what they have over in those organized sporting groups, with all their hockey balls and baskets and what-nots.  Those people are rabid to support their franchises because being fans of those franchises make them a member of a community – and communities, being made up of individuals, have the true power in any economic structure: they’re the guys with the choice of how to spend their money.  Make them happy first – which is the community manager’s job.

 

 
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Posted in Business